We're in Demand

In the last magazine, Alumni Association Board President Ray Schreyer, MD, HU '78, shared some exciting statistics with you about the progress of our medical school. Today, I am happy to report those trends continue.

Our MD program received over 1,000 more applications for 2014/15 than for the previous year. The total number of applicants to U.S. medical schools rose to a new high in 2014 — 49,480 — and 30 percent of them (14,622) applied to Drexel. Now we have 15,279 applications for next year. These numbers make for a very difficult screening process; however, by all measures it seems we're doing a good job.

Alumni ask me what it is like to be one of the largest medical schools in the country. I am happy to report many of our students have shared with me their feeling that this is a big school with a small-school atmosphere, and this is what is transmitted to applicants and visitors. The faculty is available, and there is greater camaraderie than in other places. It is part of our cultural DNA handed down from our legacy schools.

At Drexel, students operate with their brains and their hearts, not with their elbows. In other words, this is not the kind of place where people are pushing each other out of the way to get ahead. A great majority are involved in socially minded causes — helping children, working in free clinics, truly giving of themselves — because they have a vocation of service.

I believe that training-program directors and leaders of health systems across the region and the country know that our students make great residents. I often hear praise for our students and graduates, from our academic partners and affiliates, practitioners in the field and patients; they recognize that our students are well prepared, have great bedside manners and are outstanding examples of professionalism.

I am telling you this for several reasons. First, I want you to be proud of our students, and your medical school. Second, to thank you for all that you do to support our enterprise. The gifts of your time, your financial support and your advocacy are critical to our continued success. Lastly, to ask you to engage with our students and your fellow alumni — attend reunion, mentor a student, participate in career networking programs.